Saturday, February 28, 2015

I did two sketches this morning. Here is the first one at the corner of Paya Lebar and Sims Avenue. The iconic building with the red doors is the former Geylang Fire Station (1929-2002). It was the second oldest fire station in Singapore after the Central Fire Station at Hill Street.

Bernice Lau, a new sketcher took this photo of me sketching. My set up was very simple, I just put my moleskine on the floor and used a smaller moleskine as paperweight. I had a small sketching stool and I used Hero fountain pen, a waterbrush and watercolours. No tripod, no easel, no sophisticated brushes, no elaborate palette and no water container. I am going back to basic and traveling really light!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Our sketchwalk this saturday will start from the new Paya Lebar Square mall. At 9AM, please meet outside Ya Kun Kaya Toast on the outside of the mall. It's just beside Paya Lebar MRT Station). After a short briefing, you are free to explore the area in any direction.

Look at the map and you will be able to find two old malls and also the new OneKM mall. The old malls have this very old atmosphere inside. It's like stepping into the past. You can also relax at a cafe and draw if you are at one of the 2 new malls. The industrial buildings are on the other end. Please watch out for big vehicles when sketching there. Closer to Aljunied MRT station are two big temples which some of you might find interesting. One is very ornate. The Geylang East Library is a quiet pleasant library just beside the MRT tracks. And not far from there is the famous Geylang area where if you like drawing shop houses, it's all there.

At 12PM, we will gather outside Aljunied MRT station below the tracks (facing the library). There, we shall do the show and tell.

For lunch, I recommend a Penang restaurant located at one of the shophouses just outside Aljunied MRT station. Try the Penang Char Kway Teow ($5) or Assam Laksa. Their other dishes are good too. The indian food next door is also decent.

Sunday, February 08, 2015

Towards the end of 2014, there was a game on Facebook that we have to post 3 artwork per day for consecutive 5 days and I took part in it too. Here is the montage of the work I posted on Facebook for that Art Challenge.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

We had a family staycation at Marina Bay Sands to celebrate hubby's birthday over last weekend. There was a time I was alone so I took the opportunity to sketch the view from our 12th storey hotel room. It was meant to be black and white sketches only for this sketchbook but I added colours to kill boredom since I was left alone for more than two hours. On the right, Laneway Festival sent very loud music especially the beats by the base to the hotel room across the highway from morning till very late at night.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

On the second day of our training workshop with the National Heritage Board, we visited the Heritage Conservation Centre at Jurong Port Road. It was my second visit to the place and it was still so refreshing to go through the spaces. I did a quick sketch at the painting restoration department when our guide was explaining on the pieces they were working on. One of the smaller paintings on the easel was my late private art teacher, Liu Kang's old painting done in the 50s, it was quite emotional for me at that moment. All these paintings are to be displayed when the new National Art Gallery opens in later part of the year in conjunction with SG50 celebrations.

Monday, January 26, 2015

For the first official sketchwalk of the year, we are going to do something special! We're going to do an Island-wide sketchwalk! The reason is because we want all of you to capture sketches for the upcoming Urbansketchers Singapore Vol.2 book. And all sketches need to be compiled by February! Very soon!

Let me tell you a bit more about the vol.2 book. It is a team-up with the National Library's Singapore Memory Project. So the focus of the book this round are sketches of places that have special meaning to you and your personal stories behind the places. In the book, your sketch and story will be displayed something like this:

Got it?

Sketch can be landscape or portrait. We will adjust the layout.

SKETCHWALK LOCATIONS ON 31st JAN, SATURDAY.

We all have places in Singapore that are meaningful to us. It may be your old school, the neighbourhood playground where you used to play with your friends, the place you got married, the shopping centre your parents used to take you to, where you used to hang out in your teenage years, or where something very happy or sad or important happened to you. We all have different locations in mind. So we can't all go to the same place. Therefore, this month, we splitting into mini groups.

You may form your own mini-group, do a solo, or join one of the mini groups that have been set up already (if your meaningful location is very close to theirs). To join a mini group listed below, simply show up at 4pm at the location stated. Call the mini group leader only if you are lost. No sign up or fees necessary. They are all friendly so make friends with them:)

Place/s you want to go: Serene Centre along bukit timah road. And then take a bus to Bukit Timah Plaza.

Meeting point: MacDonalds at Serene Centre at 4pm

Time: 4-7pm

Name: Alice Lim

Phone number: 96369780

Place/s you want to go: Dakota crescent

Meeting point: Dakota MRT at 4pmTime: 4-7pm

To form your own mini-group, you can do it informally with your own friends. Or Facebook PM me, Andrew Tan Tsun Wen, so I can list it here.

By the way, even if you not intending to contribute to the book, you are can still tag along and draw for fun.

SHOW AND TELL

It will be an online Facebook "show and tell" this time. Between 7-8pm, you are encouraged to post your drawings you have done that day! You could also informally meet with other mini-groups for dinner!

WRITING THE STORY

No hurry on this. Go sketch your meaningful sketch location. Let the location jog your memory. Then go home and type it up. Keep the story short. 1 or 2 paragraphs will do. Do not write pages and pages as we will not have enough room in the book.

Don't worry if you feel you aren't a good story writer. We just want you to write from the heart as if you are writing in your own diary. Simple and heartfelt. And we will help you edit any spelling mistakes or grammer errors. To help you write a simple short story, follow this rough guideline (you don't have to answer every question):

1. What is this place you drew?

2. What do/did you see, hear, smell here?

3. What happened to you here that makes this place special to you?

4. How has it changed?

5. How did it make you feel then? And now?

We are still sorting out the best way you can submit your sketch & story. For the time being, find a scanner and scan your work at 600dpi, RGB, and saved as in the .jpg format. Make sure the sketch is clear.

Ideally, we will want to include everyone who submits. But the editorial team will have the right to select and reject submissions based on quality and suitability.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Together with nine other artists, I took part in the Art Apart Fair 2015 held at a local Hotel ParkRoyal on Pickering. Each gallery is given a hotel room on the 14th storey to display. Very unique concept. The longer pieces here are moved to Presidential Suite by the organiser. I will only be there on Sunday but my friends will be there.

Saturday, January 03, 2015

My first day of work on 2 Jan I went to The Old Malaya Cafe at Tampines Mall for lunch. My usual dishes - wanton noodle, a popiah (spring roll) and Kopi O gau (thick black coffee). A family of three generations at the next table after shopping at Isetan. The mother and grandmother was taking care of the toddler on baby chair and the very big size young girl about 13 or 14 years old was finishing up all the food left on the table. Slurp!

Friday, January 02, 2015

First sketch before dark. I was sleeping a lot on first day of 2015 under the effect of cough medication. But an urge to do a location sketch today was too strong that I drove to town before dark. Feeling good after completing the sketch. Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

I attended the last sketchwalk of the year with a tired body but high in spirit as I was not going to miss the sketchwalk again.

I did not sleep at all the night before after arriving in Singapore from Hong Kong at around 11pm on Friday. By the time I reached home, it was 12am and I was tossing on the bed since. However, I made up my mind I had to attend the last sketchwalk of this year even if I were to turn up late!

I did one quick line sketch on the Moleskine before the loose watercolour piece. Look at the photo, where were the people and traffic? Orchard Road was too quiet during this festive seasons. May be it was still early but I thought everyone was out of town and there were visibly more tourists on the streets. It was the same in Hong Kong on Boxing Day when our taxi driver told us his business dropped during this time of the year.

Orchard Road has also changed so much beyond recognition. There are so many mega malls sprouting up here and there except old granny like Mandarin Hotel with the pointed fins at the top is still there standing high and tall. So I decided to sketch it as it is the Orchard Road that I remember.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Merry Christmas! For this month's sketchwalk, meet us at 9AM outside McDonald's at SCAPE. The closest MRT station is Somerset. We will have a quick briefing and then start on the sketchwalk toward Plaza Singapura.

The route in the map is only the general direction and you are encouraged to take your own detours to discover other views of Orchard Rd than the obvious. For example, take Somerset Road instead. There is a skateboard park there. And if you go up to the 3rd floor of Orchard Gateway, you will get to sketch the new Library@Orchard. Climb up to the top of Orchard Central and you get a bird's eye view of the area. Yes, explore both inside and outside of the malls. Or around and behind. Turn up to Emerald hill to sketch shophouses. Or stop by a cafe, relax and sketch.

Pace yourself so that you can gather with the group again at 12PM sharp OUTSIDE of the entrance to Plaza Singapura. If it rains, look for the nearest shelter there.

See you on saturday. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join. No drawing skill level required. No fees either. Just bring your own drawing materials and show up on time. If you are late, just look for anyone with a sketchbook drawing along the way. Only in case of emergencies, call 91070735.

Lucky draw

Join the lucky draw by clicking the picture below sponsored by Parkablogs.com

Friday, December 19, 2014

One of the last pages on the Moleskine filled with sketches from Malacca trip, so I continued the Moleskin with a sketch during dinner at Bedok Hung Kang Fish Soup stall. The old Teochew couples spent long hours daily at the stall and they must be pleased there was always a constant queue.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Beca or Trishaw in Malacca. They are gaudy, colourful, decorative, kitschy, and some will think it's silly to sit in one of these trishaws with the kiddy hello kitty, stuff toys and butterfly roof in pink, shocking pink, bright blue or red! There are also adorned with fake flowers. However, the tourists love them, locals don't hate them. Some say the rides are the best way to enjoy Malacca. Plus, they blink at night with blaring pop music.

favourite art quotes

"I dream a lot. I do more painting when I'm not painting. It's in the subconscious." Andrew Wyeth

"I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies." Le Corbusier

"If people knew how hard I have had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem wonderful at all." Michelangelo

"From the time I was six, I was in the habit of sketching things I saw around me, and around the age of fifty, I began to work in earnest, producing numerous designs. It was not until after my seventieth year, however, that I produced anything of significance. At the age of seventy-three, I began to grasp the underlying structure of birds and animals, insects and fish, and the way trees and plants grow. Thus, if I keep up my efforts, I will have an even better understanding when I am eighty, and by ninety will have penetrated to the heart of things. At one hundred, I may reach a level of divine understanding, and if I live a decade beyond that, everything I paint-every dot and line-will be alive. I ask the god of longevity to grant me a life long enough to prove this true." Hokusai, postscript to One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji [translated by Carol Morland]

"I'm glad I haven't found my style yet. I'd be bored to death." Degas

"The artist is primarily a visual person. I have always believed that there is no essential difference between the basic visual relationships that concern the fine artist, the graphic artist, the industrial designer, and the architect. The difference is in the degree of complexity of visual organization demanded by each situation. Beyond that, there are the materials and techniques of each area. I am convinced that there is a visual discipline suitable for all of these areas. It is based on the exciting concept that there can be order and structure to the organization of visual expression." Rowena Reed Kostellow

"I've always rated doodles as a method to capture or generate solutions to a creative problem. I also doodle in meetings and although refused to be intimidated into giving up, I always felt very slightly guilty. No one ever asked me to actually stop. I suspect they were caught between the belief that I wasn't paying attention and the desire to enjoy the final results. Anyway its good that some scientist thinks it helps retain information. Why do scientists tot up the numbers and announce the result like they've discovered something new? . . . Most creatives I know are aware of the value of doodling and many have given thought to the mechanics and psychology behind it. None, that I know anyway, felt the need to publish an academic paper though." Alan Scott